The main idea behind Weekly Answer Writing Challenges is to
make your exam preparation more result oriented. For this exam (UPSC Civil
Services), just ‘reading’ is not enough. The most advantageous part of this
writing exercise is to make your answer visible to everyone, someone may correct
you if they find a mistake in your answer plus it must be also supported by our
experts , you may see others answers also. It is free and definitely will
improve your writing ability and marks in your final examination. Here all
topics from syllabus will be covered.

Q2. In the era of hung parliaments the power of
the President expands, more so when the incumbent decides to be assertive.
Comment

Model Answer:

In a parliamentary democracy like in India, in the last
decade no one party is able to gather a majority during the elections and
coalition model of government has been adopted. In a situation of a Hung
Parliament , the powers vested with the President expand. Under Article 53 and
74 (read together), there must be a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime
Minister who must aid and advise the President, however is this group does not
hold a majority in the Parliament, then its advise is not binding and it is the
discretion of the president that takes precedence.

The President exercises different powers:

a) Under Article 75 the President must appoint the Prime
Minister in the case of a minority government e.g President Zail Singh appointed
Rajiv Gandhi as the PM after Indira Gandhi’s death, President Venkataram asked
V.P Singh to form a minority government and even Narasimha Rao led a minority
government. In the case of a caretaker government, no important policy decision
are expected out of the Government and hence the President decides which
decision are acceptable.

b) President has discretion to dissolve the house (Lok Sabha)

c) The President has the power to reject the President’s rule like was done
in Bihar in 1998

d) Crucial bills are returned for reconsideration to the
Parliament. The advice of the CoM , though made binding with the 42nd and 44th
Constitutional Amendment Act, however if the Government does not enjoy the
majority, its advise shall not be binding on the President. President Kalam
returned the Office of Profit Bill. President Pranab Mukherjee asked
reconsideration of the Ordinance for amendment to the Representation of the
People’s Act in 2013.

Growing powers of President may lead to case of presidential
dictatorship especially in the context of reducing power of prime minister due
to pushes and pulls of coalition allies.The solution lies in setting up a
national government as recommended by the Law commission.When a no confidence
motion is initiated, it should also suggest an alternative PM to ensure
continuity of governance and this way prevent the possibility of presidential
dictatorship in a parliamentary form of government.

If you are facing problem in Public Administration call at +91
7827687693